Indigenous Concepts of Health and Healing in Andean Populations

Understanding the Relevance of Traditional Medicine in a Changing World

Elizabeth Currie, John Schofield

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781032526362
• eBook ISBN: 9781040110522
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book uses archaeology and ethnohistory to explore the evidence for the survival of ancestral beliefs and practices related to health and healing in Indigenous Andean communities.

The authors argue that through determining the nature of the survival of beliefs around health and healing, important insights are gained into how people develop adaptive strategies for survival in a way that allows a continuity of identity and integrity. The book works through various stages of research to arrive at its conclusions. Firstly, through archaeology and ethnohistory, it establishes a 'baseline' of key ancestral (pre-European) Indigenous Andean beliefs related to health, illness and healing. It then proceeds to review the evidence for the survival of these ancestral beliefs and practices related to Indigenous pre-European Andean epistemologies and ontologies. Analysing the results of the first two sections, the final part reflects on the narratives around ancestral beliefs and practices and how they influence lived experience in the contemporary world. In essence, this book deals with the question 'How do people manage change?', a universal question relevant to humanity at any time, and stresses the need to recognise the significance of cultural diversity, intangible heritage and plurality.

This interdisciplinary study is for researchers in ethnohistory, anthropology, medical anthropology, archaeology, history, heritage and Indigenous studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• 1 Background, aims, approaches and methodology
• 2 The study area: Demographics and health indicators
• 3 Healing cosmology and traditions in the Northern Andes
• 4 Survey results
• 5 Indigenous identity and historical consciousness
• 6 The evolution of Indigenous identity and ‘empowerment’ in Ecuador
• 7 Building the bridge: A discussion of the evidence
• 8 Modelling health beliefs in traditional populations: Culturally integrative models of care provision – The study region
• 9 The tale of Juana Icha: A trial by three models – The psychological impact of evangelisation
• 10 From bridge to policy and practice guidance
• 11 Some final thoughts on heritage discourses
• 12 Summary and conclusions
• Christianisation of Salasaka myths and ‘near-death experiences’
• Survey instrument – English version
• Qualitative survey tabulated findings
• Questions for Healers, Yachaks and Parteras – Salasaka
• Survey communities’ population analysis Alexander Harrison, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
• References
• Index